Can-opener.



T T. LEGROY.

CAN OPENER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 15, 1911.

1,068,507. Patented July 29, 1913.

muewtoz COLUMBlA PLANOGRAPH CO.. WASHINGTON. n. cy

THOMAS T. LECROY, OF LONSIDALE, ARKANSAS.

CAN-OPENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 29, 1913.

Application filed November 15, 1911. Serial No. 660,519.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, THOMAS T. LEOROY, citizen of the United States,residing at Lonsdale. in the county of Garland and State of Arkansas,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Can Openers, ofWhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to can openers and aims primarily to provide acan opener which may be more readily and quickly manipulated than theordinary form of opener, to properly cut the top of a can. The ordinaryopener requires to be moved around the can top during the opening orcutting operation and considerable time is consumed and the edges of thecut are in most instances left in jagged condition.

The present invention contemplates providing an opener of this type soconstructed that a downward pressure thereon against the top of the canto be opened, will be all that will be necessary to properly cut throughthe can top.

A further object of the invention is to provide an opener of this classhaving its blade so constructed as to cut a substantially circular slitin the can top to be opened, leaving, however, a narrow neck portionuniting the top to the can so that when the can is thrown away, afterhaving been opened, the top will be thrown away with it.

A further object of the invention is to provide a can opener which willaccomplish the results and will possess the advantages above mentionedand which will be simple in construction and embody no movable partsliable to get out of order.

For a full understanding of the invention reference is to be had to thefollowing description and accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is aperspective view of the opener embodying the present invention. Fig. 2is a view in side elevation thereof, the blade of the. opener beingillustrated in dotted lines after having been inserted through the topof a can to be opened. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the opener. Fig.4 is a top plan view of a can, the top of which has been out by theopener.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawingby the same reference characters.

In the drawing, the bl d of the opener is illustrated as formed from asingle piece of material and it includes oppositely arranged blademembers, one indicated by the numeral l and the other by the numeral 2.Each of these said members includes a port1on 3 and a portion 4, thesaid portions of each member being curved spirally upwardly in oppositedirections as clearly shown in Fig. 1, and each being formed with acutting edge 5, the edges, at the meeting lower ends of the portions ofeach member resulting in an entering point 6. The ortions 3 of the twomembers of the blade are connected or integral at their upper ends asindicated by the numeral 7 and the cutting edges 5 of these saidportions are continuous, or in other words, intermerge at the point ofjuncture of the said upper ends of the said portions, as indicated at 8.The upper ends of the portions 4 of the blade members are relativelydisconnected or spaced and are bent outwardly to lie in a substantiallyhorizontal plane, as indicated by the numeral 9, said ends, as stated,being spaced from each other so that the cutting edges 5 of these saidportions of the members do not merge or cooperate. The portions 3 of theblade members at their juncture are bent outwardly as at 10.

The handle of the opener is also formed from a single piece of materialwhich is stamped or cast to form a grip portion 11 and end portions 12and 13 located at the ends of the said grip portion 11. The lower end ofthe portion 12 of the handle is bent inwardly to form an ear 14 and theoutwardly bent end portions 9 of the portions 4 of the blade members areriveted or otherwise secured as at 15 to the under side of this said ear14. In a like manner, the end of the portion 13 of the handle is bentinwardly to form an ear 16 riveted as at 17 to the bent portion 10 ofthe blade portions 3.

From the foregoing description it will be observed that the handle spansthe blade and that the cutting edge of the blade as a whole iscontinuous except at one side of theblade (that side at which the upperends of the portions 4 of the blade are located) where this cut-tingedge is interrupted. It will. further be understood that in using theopener the handle 11 is to be grasped and the inner points 6 of theblade disposed against the upper side of the top of a can to be opened,after which downward pressure is exerted against the opener causing theblades to enter through the can top making a substantially circularincision or slit as indicated at 18 in Fig. 4t of the drawing. It willbe understood, however, that by interrupt-ing the cutting edge of theblade, a relatively narrow neck It) is leftbetween the partly severedcover 18 and the body of th can, which is desirable for the reason thatafter the can has been emptied, it together wit-h its top may be thrownaway at one time.

By referring to Fig. 2 of the drawing, it will be observed that the ears14 and 16 constitute stops to limit the entering or downward movement ofthe blade through the top of the can being opened, and that these earscooperate with the top of the can outwardly beyond the incision 18therein, thereby positively preventing the portion of the top encircledby the incision, being pressed into the body of the can and into thematerial contained therein.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new is A canopener comprising a plate having opposed blade members each havingoppositely upwardly spirally curved cutting portions, the cuttingportions at one side of the blade being united and at their juncturebeing bent to form a laterally projecting ear and at the other side ofthe blade being disconnected and having their disconnected ends bent toform laterally projecting spaced ears, and a handle comprising agrip-portion and portioiis integral with the gripporti'on and projectingdownwardly from the ends thereof and having'their lower end portionsbent inwardly laterally toward each other and secured one to the firstmentioned 40 ear of the blade and the other to the second mentioned earsof the blade, the said ears and the inbent ends of theldepending portion of the handle constituting stops to limit the entering movement ofthe blade.

In testimony whereot'l affix my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS T. LECROY.

Witnesses JNO. R. NANCE, J AKE IVILLI-AMS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained. for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0'.

